Portuguese Bread Soup (Sopa Alentejana)

This soup comes from the region of Alentejo in Portugal. It is easy and quick to make. One thing, it is very garlicky, so if you're going to be doing any kissing, have the other person eat the soup too. That should cancel out the garlic breath... Well... that's my theory, anyway. I've read several recipes for this soup and most use one egg per serving, but I made mine with two. This is one of the BEST soups I've ever had. I make it often. 

Ingredients (4 servings):

4 slices of stale French or Italian bread from a bake shop,* cut or torn into bite sized pieces
4 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
4 teaspoons parsley, chopped
4 large cloves of garlic, chopped
little sprinkle of salt to each serving (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon white or black pepper per serving
32 ounces chicken stock (low fat and low sodium is fine)
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 to 8 eggs (depending upon 1 or 2 per serving)

Tear or cut the bread into bite sized pieces. Spread the bread pieces into your serving bowls. Drizzle one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil over the bread pieces in each bowl; and on the bread pieces of each bowl, sprinkle one tablespoon of cilantro, one teaspoon of parsley, one large clove of chopped garlic, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Meanwhile, bring the chicken broth to a boil, then reduce the heat until the broth is barely at a simmer. Poach the eggs to the desired state of doneness (see Word History, below), then remove the eggs from the broth and place into the individual bowls. Pour equal amounts of broth into each bowl. Ready to go.     

* I cannot speak about other countries, but in the U.S., the mass produced sliced white bread labeled, "Italian," just doesn't do it for me for a recipe like this. I'm not putting it down, because I actually use it for sandwiches in preference to what is often termed, "sandwich bread."

 

WORD HISTORY:
Do-This common word is related to "deed" and to "doom," both words from the Germanic roots of English, and "do" goes back to Indo European "dhe," which had the notion, "to make, to bring about (later in English, as in, "to do harm"), "to be engaged in an activity (later in English, as in, "they got ready to do battle"), to put." This gave its Old Germanic offspring, "donan," which only survived in the West Germanic branch (English is West Germanic) of Germanic as, "don," but with the same meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "don," again with many of the same meanings, initially. It was not until the latter part of the Middle Ages that the word was commonly finally shortened to "do." The other West Germanic languages have: German "tun," Low German Saxon "doon," Dutch "doen," West Frisian "dwaan." ("Done" is the participle form of "do," with "doneness" being a derived noun, with the attached suffix.)